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by **LFC2007** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:22 am

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In: "Gareth Barry offer mad..."
By: Sabre

:laugh:

by **bigmick** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:23 am

Agree with nearly all of that Sabes, if not all. Stu earlier though said about the midfield of Barry, Alonso, Masherano and Gerrard though being a good one and there's no question it is. However overpriced he might seem, there's no question Barry is in a different stratosphere as a left midfielder than the right footed and inexperienced Babel, and it hardly needs saying how far ahead of our right midfielders Gerrard is.

As Sabre says, whatever mine or anybody else's reservations are about playing two holders in the same team, Alonso playing in "the pocket" or any other theories anybody cares to mention, we have played with those two holders through a relatively successful spell so to an extent at least, it can work. Ciould it perhaps be that Rafa thinks we are much closer than any of us realise? Maybe the development of Babel is ready to move onto the next stage, and the manager sees him as Torres's ideal partner in a 4-4-2 with the aforementioned midfield? There'd be goals in the top two, certainly goals from the right and probably goals from the left. Perhaps with the addition of a genuine top quality right back, one of these flying machines from the foreign leagues the manager may think the amount of building needed is actually quite small.

He did say after the Champions League exit that the addition of one more quality player would make a huge difference, perhaps he sees Barry as that final jigsaw piece.

It wouldn't be my method, but if we are short of cash and I mean really short due to that c... Hicks, it would probably be as good a way as any as having a shot at it without spending hardly any money relatively.

by **account deleted by request** » Sun May 04, 2008 3:21 am

I think one of the problems we have if indeed we are short of transfer money, is that we have no ready replacement for injuries in too many positions. Gerrard gets injured and we have to change our style because we have no-one who comes close to being an attacking midfielder/second striker(Benayoun?). Torres gets hurt and we have a similar problem - who you gonna call - Kuyt ? (maybe Babel?) We have no genuine left winger and have struggled to cope with Babel not really being a 90mins player at the moment. At right back since Finnans sad demise we have struggled with Arbeloa and Carra filling in but Arbeloa is for me only good cover while Carra is too good a defender to be "wasted out wide". Left back - if Riise does go we have Aurelio (injury prone) and Insua (untested). Goalkeeper - If Reina is injured we may have Carson, if not we have problems.

Imagine if Torres and Gerrard are both injured for a few weeks who are we going to play up front Kuyt and Babel ? (I am presuming Crouch is on his way out )

So at least if we do sign Barry it will solve our problems on the left side while giving us plenty of options in midfield. Now we just need a 20 goal a season striker who can play right wing and creative second striker who's also a pretty good goalkeeper and we are set for the new season.

by **maguskwt** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:08 am

Sabre wrote:The notion of swapping Alonso for Barry doesn't convince me because at the end of the day it's a gamble, and not exactly a cheap one, where as you have other positions unsorted.

As for a quality second striker S@int wishes, I also want one. But the fúcking problem is that the quality ones cannot be bought like apples and pears, they're ridiculously expensive. A Real Madrid has approached us as he overheard our footie conversation and told us it's official they've offered 20M quid + Granero + De la Red (promising and good players).

If we want quality for second strikers, we need to outbid that kind of offer. Can we? It looks that with Hicks we can't without getting in debt, so I'd rather use Barry's 10M and selling a player like Pennant in achieving a good second striker, RW, or LW.

Just to further Sabre's thoughts with my own thoughts. Barry is an excellent player IMO. He's very solid and consistent and I rate him higher than Carrick and Hargreaves as a CM. And we all know that he made such a great partnership with Gerrard in the England set up.

If we get Barry and intends to play him as one of the 2 defensive M's in our current 4-2-3-1, I think he will be more effective than Alonso. That's not knocking Alonso, I just think that Barry is much more suitable for the Premier League as opponents now know how to effectively nullify Alonso. For that reason and as much as I like Alonso, I don't think that swapping Alonso for Barry in the CM area in the 4-2-3-1 is a gamble at all.

But now what do we do with Alonso? I do not like the idea of us reverting to 4-4-2 with Barry, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard as some have suggested because like Mick says it has ballance issues. And I would prefer to have proper quick wingers playing on our wings even though Barry and Gerrard will be better than our current wingers. IMO the best way to deal with Alonso if we wanna stick to the 4-2-3-1 formation and bring in Barry is to go for a swap deal involving alonso + cash with a versatile quality forward/winger such as David Silva or Aguero...

All in all us going for Barry is not a clear solution as much as I think Barry will benefit us as a team. We now have to guess what Benitez have in mind in terms of formation and strategy...

by **The_Rock** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:22 am

Fo Dne wrote:
The_Rock wrote:Looks like barry would become our 1st signing...

10 million pounds ? More like carson + 2 or 3 million pounds for barry...

If rafa pulls this off....then it would be an awesome move. Just hope rafa doesn't intend barry to play as a left back or worse a left winger...... We need pacy players there.

Idiotic mindless post. He should clearly be brought in to play on the left. He's a class act.

Why bring him in to play centre mid when we have Alonso, Gerrard, Lucas and Mascherano who can already play there?

We don't need another central midfieder.

I'm sick of us signing players who play there when its the only position in the squad that has an abundance of quality.

eh.......because i don't think alonso has played well at CM....

Because i don't think lucas is good enough....

by **The_Rock** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:23 am

Fo Dne wrote:That would leave us with an excellent midfield...

Barry, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard

Yes please...

What a midfield that would be, solid defensively and full of players who can use the ball and keep it when attacking. I'd have Barry all day.

IMO....this is an idiotic post....

that would be the slowest and the most narrow midfield we can come up with...

:no

by **Owzat** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:17 am

We paid £10.5m for Alonso and he works pretty well in our midfield, why pay £10m or more for a player who might play a more "box to box" role and adapt, which some have said is also a gamble and I agree, when we have enough midfielders already? Some on here have previously said Alonso is on his way, well in that case we would have to replace him, but I'm not sure Barry is the right man and certainly not the right price.

MON is an over-rated manager, plenty of big reputation managers have been given cash this season and not done anything special and he is one. Let's make a minor bid for Barry just to let him know we're interested then leave it until August to make a slightly higher or repeat bid. Maybe he'll then play out next season and when villa are in the same position (or worse) next season, he'll buy out his contract. If we have to replace Alonso then we can either give Lucas more games and Plessis too, or sign someone at a reasonable price. Since Gerrard can play a more defensive role alongside Mascherano then why don't we look for someone to play behind Torres or if we're playing 4-4-2 then Gerrard and Mascherano is our first choice midfield pairing.

by **Redman in wales** » Sun May 04, 2008 10:43 am

Fo Dne wrote:That would leave us with an excellent midfield...

Barry, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard

Yes please...

What a midfield that would be, solid defensively and full of players who can use the ball and keep it when attacking. I'd have Barry all day.

that does look a good midfield, but you would also need an attacking LB and RB to compliment that when barry and gerrard move into the centre as they do from those positions. that midfield i fear would provide little width, and would need an Alves and a Lahm to bomb up the flanks to provide it.

Still feel we need proper width.

Are we the only club not to have a proper left winger in our 1st team? (excluding the ever-fit kewel)

by **maguskwt** » Sun May 04, 2008 11:14 am

Owzat wrote:We paid £10.5m for Alonso and he works pretty well in our midfield, why pay £10m or more for a player who might play a more "box to box" role and adapt, which some have said is also a gamble and I agree, when we have enough midfielders already? Some on here have previously said Alonso is on his way, well in that case we would have to replace him, but I'm not sure Barry is the right man and certainly not the right price.

MON is an over-rated manager, plenty of big reputation managers have been given cash this season and not done anything special and he is one. Let's make a minor bid for Barry just to let him know we're interested then leave it until August to make a slightly higher or repeat bid. Maybe he'll then play out next season and when villa are in the same position (or worse) next season, he'll buy out his contract. If we have to replace Alonso then we can either give Lucas more games and Plessis too, or sign someone at a reasonable price. Since Gerrard can play a more defensive role alongside Mascherano then why don't we look for someone to play behind Torres or if we're playing 4-4-2 then Gerrard and Mascherano is our first choice midfield pairing.

I have a feeling that Barry's bid is not an isolated case in strengthening the team the way Rafa has in mind... Alonso might be involved as a swap deal for someone else to strengthen another position... let's just wait and see...

as for whether Barry can replace Alonso adequately, he is fully capable of that, he is one of the most underrated english players because of the high profiles of some of his other contemporaries like Lampard and Beckham. I certainly rate him higher than Hargreaves and Carrick.

by **Fo Dne** » Sun May 04, 2008 12:53 pm

The_Rock wrote:
Fo Dne wrote:That would leave us with an excellent midfield...

Barry, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard

Yes please...

What a midfield that would be, solid defensively and full of players who can use the ball and keep it when attacking. I'd have Barry all day.

IMO....this is an idiotic post....

that would be the slowest and the most narrow midfield we can come up with...

Slowest?

Whats that got to do with anything?

Barry is as quick as Kewell was a few years ago when we had Kewell Alonso Sissoko and Gerrard and don't sit there and say Mascherano is "slower" than Sissoko, Gerrard isn't exactly "slow" either numb nutz, he's probably one of the quickest players in the world.

Mindless post. As for it being Narrow, Barry knows how to play wide, Just because he's no Ryan Giggs does not mean he tucks in... He runs the line excellently.

by **Fo Dne** » Sun May 04, 2008 12:56 pm

Redman in wales wrote:
Fo Dne wrote:That would leave us with an excellent midfield...

Barry, Alonso, Mascherano, Gerrard

Yes please...

What a midfield that would be, solid defensively and full of players who can use the ball and keep it when attacking. I'd have Barry all day.

that does look a good midfield, but you would also need an attacking LB and RB to compliment that when barry and gerrard move into the centre as they do from those positions. that midfield i fear would provide little width, and would need an Alves and a Lahm to bomb up the flanks to provide it.

Still feel we need proper width.

Are we the only club not to have a proper left winger in our 1st team? (excluding the ever-fit kewel)

We need two full backs anyways unless Barry is being signed to play there.

That midfield has a similar shape to the one of Kewell Alonso Sissoko Gerrard a few seasons ago which was a very strong midfield, Infact, Barry would contribute more goals than Kewell and I think Mascherano can release Xabi a bit more and get more goals than Momo did.

by **Torres25** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:09 pm

Brilliant ive always rated Barry & its nice that were gettin linked with afew english players like him & Bentley

i aint no right winger like alotta peeps on here but it is nice 2 have more then 1 reason 2 watch england

by **account deleted by request** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:18 pm

The main problem with being linked with buying British players is Rafa's record of not playing them after a season:- Pennant in and out all season - Crouch mainly out - Bellamy completely out

by **The Manhattan Project** » Sun May 04, 2008 1:20 pm

Rafa should just pretend that Barry is Spanish.

Call him "Guerrero Basaro"

by **Sabre** » Sun May 04, 2008 2:28 pm

The Manhattan Project wrote:Rafa should just pretend that Barry is Spanish.

Call him "Guerrero Basaro"

Has an easier adaptation in Gerardo Barril

Barril:

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